Memories of a Distant Then
by NinjaPower
Summary: Contrary to thought, she remembers it all. Life before the darkness, before Hollow Bastion, before now. She wonders what happened to then and then she remembers. Yuffiecentric RxR please FFVIIxKH crossover though didn't want to put in crossover section.
1. Memories

Kingdom Hearts

Memories-

Contrary to thought, she remembers it all; life before the darkness, before Hollow Bastion, before now.

At times, memories come back randomly. After watching a red cat run by, picking a large marble, or even looking at the sunset. Things come back, from then. She remembers Avalanche, Sephiroth, her friends, materia, Geostigma, and Wutai. She remembers that she was one of those who saved the world on multiple occasions. She remembers that she was a princess, and not just any ordinary princess, the princess of Wutai, Materia thief and the Greatest Ninja of all time and she wonders what happened to it all. And then she remembers.

Remembers when the darkness came, how it came so quick, so unexpected. How there was nothing that could be done. They had fought, had retaliated, had all banded, even with those Turkies, but there was nothing that could be done. The more they fought, the more quickly the darkness reappeared, with one down came 3 more. Even soon, their materia stopped working, and soon they all fell, one by one.

As she watched, there was nothing that she could do, she saw all her comrades fall; Tifa, Cloud, Nanaki, Cid, Barrett, Reeve, and Vincent. All one by one, all in front of her eyes, she remember being alone, in that darkness waiting for something to over take her, to take her somewhere else, away from the darkness and misery. But it never came, instead she was the only one left, all alone in the true darkness that those creatures couldn't bring. She couldn't see anything, anyone, beyond the black in front of her eyes, surrounding her, tempting her to fall to them. She wouldn't. As long as she was Princess of Wutai, member of Avalanche, and the Greatest Ninja Ever, she wouldn't be defeated to something like this. She would live to avenge her comrades, her friends, her family.

Eventually, she, too, fell to the darkness against all her might, and instead of dying, she ended up in another world or so she was told. Hollow Bastion, she was told, and saw the dreariness of the town and decided it couldn't be much worse than the darkness she had come from. But then she saw them, the ones she thought were gone. Aerith, who had died right before her eyes stood in front of her with an understanding look, as if she knew what had happened. She kept expecting her to suddenly disappear again. Cid, Cloud, and Tifa, too, had shown up in this new world, but she kept wondering that everyone would come back, all safe and sound, with a smile on their faces like the darkness had never existed. But they never came. She kept smiling on the outside, trying to keep hoping. Hoping that she would just wake up and it would be all a dream, that this had never happened, that she would wake up and see the 7th Heaven and the Edge and Wutai, and everything that was her home. Was. Was she already believing the inevitable? That there was no more home, they were always in danger, always fighting, there was no home Here. Home was gone, gone with Then, and now came the world of black and grey, the now.

What more could she do? Give into the darkness? Let it laugh at her failing? Do exactly what it wanted, to crack and lose hope? Even if she had lost her home, she wouldn't give in to the darkness, she would keep fighting. Even if she could never go back home, she would never forget. Never forget the Then, never.

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Hi, This is NinjaPower. This is a oneshot, but I'm thinking about continuing this. If you think I should, send me a review telling me so. Bye!


	2. A Dark and Stormy Night

Kingdom Hearts

Memories chapter 2

A Dark and Stormy Night

A red cape and a lonesome soul come back to her in her dreams. The mentioning of a vampire of the sorts brings up an old fond nickname and of adventures into the underground. She had forgotten him at one point but that all came back quite quickly and unexpectedly. It came after seeing Cloud again for the first time, in his red cape and his claw, and it didn't help that they acted similar. Why did he do that? Did Cloud do it on purpose to bring back old memories and to keep her in this state of separation, the separation of past and present? Whatever the reason, she decided not to ask for the fact that she knew Cloud would give a half-baked answer. She remembered and held those memories dear, like all of her other memories of then. Now, she would always be on the lookout for any sign of them particularly him; rumors of a vampire taking over and molesting poor innocent girls, a sign of a monster, though she knew that he was no where near a monster, anything. But as time passed nothing came and all she was left with was her memories, just like everything else that had left her.

She remembers when she first saw him, she seriously thought he was a vampire; he slept in a coffin, wore red, had a dark and mysterious aura surrounding him, and practically screamed vampire with his claw and golden pointy boots. But then she soon learned, that he was more than he seemed; a lot more than he seemed. His past was tragic like everyone else in the groups, but his seemed oh so much more tragic, because he considered himself a monster. Everyone else just held the guilt of the past… well more past. He was consistently reminded of his guilts every time he saw Sephiroth, for that was the root of his guilt. But she remembers beyond this, she remembers the times she got him to crack a smile or to do this version of a laugh, each one was dear to her, for he never was happy enough. He was, she could say, her first crush. Who couldn't fall for those red eyes and mysterious aura, and it didn't help that he was a killer fighter and a gentlemen as well. Gosh, what an oxymoron. He was the only one who understood her, saw reasoning behind her actions, and accepted her after her attempt of materia robbing. He never looked at her in a suspicious manner, and in return she trusted him with her life and was there for him as well. She was the one who would play the fool to cheer him up, even though it didn't show. She was the one who played happy to show that happiness could still exist in a time of crisis. Now that she thought about it, she was always wearing some kind of mask, wasn't she? But at the end, she kept her role in the group as the little sister and never tried to tell her feelings for the stoic vampire. For at the end, it was pointless, he was hung up on that girl, and everyone viewed her as a child no matter how much she grew.

And then the memories turned dark, he was the last one of the group she saw. She was injured and he promised to come back with help, he told her to stay there until he came back. She promised and he turned into that dark and stormy night. So she waited and waited, days passed, but he never came back. Soon she was forced to break her promise to fight her way to survival until she somehow ended up in Now.

She sometimes unconsciously calls Leon Vinnie, and each time apologizing and laughing it off, making it seem like an innocent mistake joking about a secret lover. But at times, she feels that Leon somehow knows something but isn't saying, and she wants it to be kept that way. The less people know, the better. No pitting glances and no murmurs of whispering for her. She had enough of that Then, when she went home when it was home, and she didn't need it Now.

---author's note---

I know I uploaded the first chapter and claimed to be completed a long while ago, but today I had a sudden urge to go back and pick it up. Lately, I've been flakey, so I don't know how it's going to go. I might go back and finish a couple of other unfinished stories.

Since I'm in the mood to continue this story, I'm going to let you, the reader, to choose the character to write about in the next chapter.

So your choices are:

A) Cloud

B) Sephiroth

C) Godo

D) Reno

Tell me who you want by either PM or in a review.

Well, you know the system. RxR Thanks and bye!


	3. Lone Wolf

Kingdom Hearts

Memories

Chapter 3- Lone Wolf

She was both grateful and hateful towards Cloud. When she first got to Now, she was silent and scared, not like herself at all, all she wanted to do was die. When she saw Aerith, it made things even worse, she thought she was in the darkness; that the darkness was torturing her with her past memories. When she saw him, it was the first realization that she was still alive and had some hope.

The day she first saw Now Cloud, she was sitting outside of Clock Tower, still desperate to find anyone she knew. Aerith was too much of a push to believe that she was really here, sitting in front of her, talking to her in the exact way that Aerith was. She wouldn't let the Darkness trick her. She saw a trail of a red cape going down an alley. She jumped up in surprise, 'Vincent' she thought. 'He kept his promise.' She ran after that red trail. No matter how much she called out, the cape never stopped. She was getting mad, 'Is Vinnie ignoring me on purpose!?!' She shoved Vinnie down, but when the red cape got up, she was disappointed. It wasn't Vincent. It wasn't even a complete stranger and that was even worse. It was Cloud. All Cloud did was give her a glare and demanded, "What do you think your doing?" All Yuffie could do was stare at him in shock. She couldn't remember how long passed before she just burst into tears. All she remembered was that Cloud seemed to understand and hugged and reassured her, just like the Then Cloud would have done. Cloud then, brought her back to Aerith and Merlin, now with a sense of hope that there the others were here, but also with the hopeless realization that Then was gone.

She was grateful that he was there to remind her of Then, for no matter where or when he was, he was always that lone wolf, the one in the group that never managed to fit but was always depended on. Every time she would look at him, Avalanche would come back. The memories of her family away from home, the dysfunctional family, for all its oddness, managed to become a very important part of her, her older brother of sorts.

But she hated the Now Cloud, for even though he looked the same on the outside and acted relatively similar, this Cloud was obsessed with the darkness. He swore that he was filled with it and that it controlled him. She was never sure if he remembered or not, and didn't want to ruin the Cloud now with the mistakes and regrets of the past, but she always remember. Calling him "Chocobo-head" and making fun of him and Tifa. She could never call him that now. She did one time, on accident in front of Merlin and Squall (or rather Leon), and was viewed as crazy. "What's a Chocobo?" they asked and Cloud was just silent. She didn't pry into his thoughts and in return, he never did to her. The Then Cloud didn't let the darkness control him, the Then Cloud desperately fought back. This Cloud was even weak that the Then Cloud. The Then Cloud managed to fight back and opened up.

Wait, that's what was missing, the Now Cloud was missing his Now Tifa. To help Cloud, for what he did, both Then and Now, she would help him in return by finding the Now Tifa. She had to be somewhere out there. But for now, she watched at waited, each and everytime, he left and came. The lone wolf that was always there when needed.

--author's note--

For future reference, I'm not planning on any pairings in this story. Just memories and regrets. So for those wanting romance, sorry.

So thank you to those that reviewed last time: C2-Chikaru, imaginedreams22, champagnesupernova72, chinese-otakufan, and Darken-Skys.

Now for the next chapter, I'll let you pick again.

A) Sephiroth

B) Tifa

C)Aerith

D) Reno

E) Cid

Bye!


	4. Healing Wind

Kingdom Hearts

Memories of a Distant Then

Chapter 4- Healing Wind

When she was alone, she would remember, she would look fondly back at those memories that haunted her, but cherished what she had now. There must be a reason why she was sent here, why she survived. The only reason why she could think was to fight the darkness, the very thing that took her childhood away. She always thought, even back Then, that her mask was extraordinarily strong. Her mask, that protected others from her thoughts and pains, deceived people from what she was really thinking.

One night, after meeting Sora, Yuffie was on the balcony. There was silence here reminding her of how she was alone and taking her back to before the darkness took her Then. It seemed like the darkness was wrapping around her, binding her soul to its power, clawing for her to give. She gripped her pink ribbon tightly and never let it go. It was the ribbon that held them all together. She wrapped her arms around her knees and prayed in the language of her ancestors. "Holy Leviathan, grant me my wish!" she would plead silently to the cold heart-moon.

She jerked in automatic response when the balcony door opened. She watched with a fighter's eye until she just saw that it was Aerith…was Aerith. Not the Aeris she knew, but now Aerith. How were the change in spellings suppose to relieve her?

Aerith smiled the same way as she did. She had the same aura, but she knew for sure, it wasn't the same person. Aeris died, she was in the Lifestream. She was spared of the Darkness, the pure light among the shadows.

"Are you alright?" the imposter asked.

Yuffie mustered a grin, "Yeah, just thinking."

Aerith held her serene appearance, "That's good to know." The figment of light walk toward the handrail and looked up at the moon.

Yuffie just wanted to be by herself, "Well, I'm done thinking. I'll leave you alone now," she said cheerily leaving.

"You're not alone, you know," pausing Yuffie from the door reminding her of Then.

_In the jungle of Wutai, after she had stolen all their material, she was essentially placed as an outcast. She still kept her façade, just to get their goats._

_"You're not alone, you know," She turned to see Aeris who was looking at some flowers._

Aerith continued, "You don't have to pretend. You're sad, lonely, and feel like you've been deserted."

_Aeris turned to look at Yuffie seriously, "You don't have to pretend. We know why you did what you did. We understand."_

Aerith turned around to watch Yuffie who was in shock, "Everyone here has past pains, but that doesn't mean that we can't help each other."

_"We're all part of AVALANCHE to fix some past wrong. Just because we're not from your land, doesn't mean we understand your pain. Let us be your friends. Allies at least." _

Yuffie just stared at the door.

Aerith put her hand on Yuffie's shoulder, "I know the ones you love will come back. Trust them," Aerith walked past her, "and trust us," and disappeared from her sight.

_"All will be well," was the last thing Aeris said before walking back to the main campsite, "Just give it time."_

Why? They were different people, why did they have the same affected on her? Why did they have to act the same?

She fell to her knees and did the only thing that came to mind; crying.

After she was spent, she stared back up at the moon. Somehow she felt relived, like a peaceful wind had passed her…a healing wind. She smiled looking down at the ribbon again. Even though Aerith wasn't Aeris, they both knew exactly what to say.

--author's note--

To be honest, at some points I just hated Aeris/Aerith. Especially in FFVII, though she's great at magic, her physical stats, just sucked. So when you wanted to train to raise levels and not waste magic, it would take forever to kill the monsters, especially if you wanted to get her Limit breaks out (which was virtually impossible at the quick time she dies).

In Kingdom Hearts, I don't recall her ever fighting, so but in the American voicing, it's annoying. It's like a fake sugary sweet voice...America needs to get better voice actors.


	5. The Creepy Crawlies of the Night

Kingdom Hearts

Memories of a Distant Then

Chapter 5-

The creepy crawlies of the Night

How many times do you need to kill a bastard for him to stay dead!? Really now, you'd think that after all the difficulties that AVALANCHE went through to make sure hedidn't cause trouble, he'd end up in some black hole of emoness and doom, but no, he just had to show up. Again connected to Cloud, she personally viewed Sephiroth as Cloud's not so subtle stalker. He was the symbol of doom and gloom.

The first time she met him in Now was at the Coliseum. She had final accepted that where she ended up in was not a dream, then he had to show up. This brought both hope and despair, if a creep like him could survive, definitely the others would too. No matter when or where his name was brought up, it brought chills up her spine. He was evil Then, but now he was in his zone, the perfect environment for him, the darkness. She'd like to ripe that one-wing off and stuff it down his bastard throat. It brought a bad taste to her throat, gave her nightmares at night, and just reminded her how bad the situation was.

Just when good things were starting to happen Then, he just had to be an attracting magnet for the darkness. He probably helped them and sided with them. Darkness in Cloud's heart crap her ass, he didn't need to _be_ anyone's darkness. He just was already darkness when he was born. He killed Aeris, tried to kill them all with the Meteor, again when he tried to be revived, and now all of a sudden he decides to show up again as Cloud's darkness. Sometimes (a lot) she would use visualize his head whenever she fault the darkness and someday hope that she could actually fight him face to face to the death. His death preferably, but until then, all she could do was try to help Cloud once again.

When she asked Cloud about Sephiroth, he seemed to peer faraway somewhere in his memories and she always hoped that he was remembering Then.

"Cloud?"

He just merely raised an eyebrow.

"When are you going to kick Sephiroth's butt in to no-man's land?"

Cloud darkened, "hnn."

"I hope that's translated for 'Very soon with one of my millions of pointy swords.'"

Cloud gave her a long look of both amusement and seriousness, "And if it was?"

Yuffie nodded seriously, "I'd say, about time. He's been a pain in the ass for way too long."

"Very true."

She had an epiphany, "He says he's the 'darkness' in you, right?"

He nodded.

"Then why don't you just accept the darkness and let it go?"

Cloud gave her an even look.

"What!?" Yuffie demanded, "It's not that hard." It's not like you've let all the other things go in one instant, "You just have to remember you're not alone and good bye."

He stared at her seriously. She was about to leave in a huff when he quietly responded, "What about you?"

She tilted her head, "What about me?"

"Your darkness, why not let it go?"

She stared at the ground, "My darkness is due to a totally different reason and well justified," she looked up and glared at him, "Yours, on the other hand, is not. So quit being a thundercloud and get rid of him." She couldn't take any more of him and how much it reminded her of the conversations before the Big Fight against Sephiroth. She stormed off and when to beat off some heartless, all the while Cloud's question kept echoing in her head.

--author's note--

It's been a long time since I've updated.

Sephiroth is a pain in the ass period.

NinjaPower signing off.


	6. A Motherly Touch

Kingdom Hearts

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Contrary to thought, she remembers it all; life before the darkness, before Hollow Bastion, before now.

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Chapter 6- A Motherly Touch.

She wished she could have seen her. Yuffie had only heard rumors of the possible Now Tifa. Who else could be described as beautiful girl with long brown hair who was freakishly strong and was looking for Cloud? While Cloud was who knows where, she was stuck in Radiant Garden fighting the little runts.

She was mentally cheering for Tifa. If anyone could do it, Tifa could. Tifa was the only one who could kick the Old Cloud out of his mood. This one would also as well. She had no doubt about that. Tifa would bring Cloud back and it would feel like Then even for just a moment. Just a moment.

The thing Yuffie feared most was not if Cloud would come back with Tifa whole, but the politely kind distant expression that she might get if Tifa didn't remember her. Tifa being Tifa would probably pretend and be her natural sweet self, but it would kill Yuffie. After all that time together to get that blank look, it would rip her heart in two.

Tifa was always the one Then to always know when something was wrong with her and always the first to forgive her when she did something wrong. Even when Yuffie accidently ruined her Tiger Claw, Tifa had that same sisterly smile before telling her to keep praticing. Could she bear to see that blank look one more time? Would everyone she knew Then all give her that empty blank look? Was she now nothing more than a passing face…someone you met on the street?

If it was Then, Tifa would be finding her now, having the motherly sense, with a cup of hot chocolate, still thinking she was a kid even though she could outdrink Cid, and a warm hug and shoulder to lean on. Would she never get that again? Would it take years for her to get back on that stage? Even if she did, it wouldn't be the same. The Now Tifa wouldn't know that she was the little Materia Thief that always tried to sneak drinks and switch Cloud's gel with glue.

She had changed. Somehow through the travel, she had lost that spark that made her Yuffie the Greatest Ninja, Princess of Wutai. She didn't steal anything anymore and she just lost desire to have anything. All she wanted was untainable. If she could steal memories, she would do so in an instant, but that was impossible. She would be totally good and nice if she could just have all that back. She'd stop making fun of people. She'd stop diluting Cid's tea and putting in hot sauce. She'd stop poking fun at Leon. She'd even go as far as to stop being the Greatest Ninja of all time. She was fine with being the Greatest Ninja of this time. She just wanted time to go back. She just…wanted.

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Thanks for reading.

NinjaPower


	7. Repition and Memorization

Kingdom Hearts

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Memories of a Distant Then

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Chapter 7- Repitition and Memorization

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It was one of her daily stakeouts in the dead of the night. Even with Claymore helping, she felt better if she actually did it herself. Plus she considered it an outlet for anger and tension, and boy did she have a lot of it.

Walking past the familiar sights that vaguely reminded her of the feel of her old travels, of the wornout cities that Avalanche would pass, she sighed with bitterness at the lingering tugs of regret. She was coping, but even after such time, it still hurt. It would hurt forever. Knowing, but being unable to do anything about it.

Her thoughts paused when an unnatural light shone from an alleyway. It beckened to her like a moth to a flame. The thought of being the moth didn't bother her until later after some time had passed. Approaching it cautiously, she held up her weapon just in case. The flame danced in the dark night as a torch drawing her more in. Nearing the corner, she heard light-hearted whistling. Still slightly cautious, she only planned to peak to see who or what it was before continuing on her way. But as her luck would have it, as she peaked around the corner, her face ran into black cloth. Jumping back in alarm, she narrowly dodged being pinned by a multi-pointed weapon.

Her initial glare died out at her surpise when she looked up at her attacker.

"What's a girl like you doing out so late?" deep smooth male voice said, with a note of amusement. She stared up at the shocking red hair. Red pointy red hair.

"Reno?" she gasped before she could stop herself.

"Wrong," the guy continued to smirk in that lazy, cocky, annoying manner, like someone she knew, "The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

Fueled by her dissapointment and anger, she shoved him back towards the nearest wall and held her shuriken near his throat, "What are you doing?"

He held his arms up innocently, "What? Can't a guy take a stroll?" He didn't seemed alarmed or worried. "Isn't that a little too heavy for someone so small to be using? Brats aren't supposed to be playing with toys like these. Go try playing with dolls."

"Answer me," she pushed her shuriken so a thin line of red appeared on his neck, "What are you doing here?"

"Just enjoying the night air," he smirked down at her, "What's got you in a snitch?"

Even more irritated by their similarity, she noted his appearance, "You're with the Darkness." It was more of an accusation than a question.

"Bingo. Someone's a smart girl," the smirk never dropped, "I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm a little too busy to stay and talk to brats." Before she could respond, red sparks sent her subconsciously protectively covering her eyes. When the sparks cleared, the guy was gone and she was left painfully irritated and bothered.

"As if one Reno wasn't enough," she muttered kicking a random box lying in the alley. Even so, she sighed heavily, it felt oddly like old times. Not the times she'd prefer to reminense, but any time was good at this point. But now she had a turkey head clone to chase down.

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Thanks a bunch. Hope everyone is having a good summer.

NinjaPower


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